Water has been used to improve fossil fuel combustion in both automotive engines and oil-fired furnaces. In the case of automotive engines, wherein gasoline is burned in air, the air has been mixed with water to increase its humidity prior to the mixing of the gasoline with the air. In the case of oil-fired furnaces, steam has been used to atomize the oil. Various techniques have been used for the mixing of water with the constituent substances of the combustion process. These techniques include the spraying of water into a chamber of air as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,107,657 which issued in the name of D. Cook, the passing of water through gasoline as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,429 which issued in the name of N. Tomlinson, the forcing of a stream of fine bubbles of air through water as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,172 which issued in the name of H. Mills, and the injection of a fine spray of water into a gas flame as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,523 which issued in the name of W. Varekamp. A more recent technique, taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,819 which issued in the name of F. Wentworth, involves the diversion of a small portion of the inlet air to a combustion chamber, and the bubbling of the air through water covered with a layer of oil. The bubbling of air through a solution of a platinum compound is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,816 which issued in the name of B. J. Robinson.
A problem arises with the techniques taught by the first four of the aforementioned patents in that they require the continuous replenishment of the water supply. While water use has been reduced in the system of the aforementioned Wentworth patent, it is desirable to increase the efficiency of the combustion to a greater extent than that provided by Wentworth. Also, as noted by Wentworth, the systems of the first four of the aforementioned patents with the larger use of water may cause damage such as the shortening of the life of an automotive engine.